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The Redeemer Harry Hole Jo Nesbo Don Bartlett Books

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The Redeemer Harry Hole Jo Nesbo Don Bartlett Books

Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole novels have the ability to grab the reader's attention at the get-go and hold it throughout the novel. This is in part thanks to his ability to draw vivid and memorable characters, not the least of whom is the hero. Harry battles demons. He's reclusive, loyal, addicted, and riddled with shame and guilt. And he has a kind heart and a very dry outlook on the world. He's aggravating but sympathetic.

In the sixth book in the series, Nesbo also creates a sympathetic villain, the Redeemer--an assassin with a tragic back story, a code of honor (of sorts), and a fellow who can overcome difficulties. (I also like his mother!)

This novel is set amid the power structure of The Salvation Army in Norway, which I found very Interesting. Early on, one of their up-and-coming young leaders is killed at a Christmas event, and until the very end of the book the motive remains a mystery. As in all Nesbo's very complicated plots, there are a number of red herrings. And it is so frustrating to determine who dunnit only to have that person wind up dead.

This is a cynical tale that overall fulfilled its promise. The writing is complex and nuanced, the tale is action-packed, and although it was a demanding read, I couldn't put it down.


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The Redeemer Harry Hole Jo Nesbo Don Bartlett Books Reviews

It’s inevitable. Mystery stories are always grounded in some level of manipulation by the author. A virtual army of murder suspects mysteriously comes into focus in the background, one at a time. Trusted figures reveal hidden motives. The author deliberately conceals some crucial element by simply truncating a scene before the reader can discern what’s happening. All this is the stuff of the traditional parlor mystery and locked-room puzzles parodied in the board game Clue (Colonel Mustard was found with Mr. Boddy in the Library, but Professor Plum did it with the Candlestick in the Dining Room).

In a well-crafted mystery, outright manipulation of this sort is kept to a discreet minimum, so that the reader doesn’t feel badly used. Jo Nesbo, whom I consider one of the best mystery writers alive, normally manages to drive his stories forward without creating a sense that I’m being duped. He failed the test in The Redeemer, the sixth of his ten novels to date featuring Inspector Harry Hole of the Oslo police.

Despite all the early signs of a disturbing and credible Harry Hole tale, The Redeemer gradually unveils an awkward dependency on all the traditional tools of manipulation employed by so many of Nesbo’s forebears — and all too many of his contemporaries. The story becomes virtually unwieldy, with seemingly unrelated murder mysteries intersecting in suspect ways and too many characters turning out to be dramatically different from the ways they were first portrayed. To make matters worse, the theme behind the book’s title comes to light in the first pages and is repeated throughout in heavy-handed ways.

However, with all this said, Nesbo’s skill in building suspense, and my abiding interest in the profoundly complex character of Harry Hole, The Redeemer kept my interest to the end.

In recent years I’ve reviewed The Redbreast, Nemesis, and The Leopard, all of which I found to be brilliant, as well as The Bat, the first of Nesbo’s Harry Hole series, which was promising but clumsy.
I read The Redeemer Harry Hole 6 in English and in Norwegian in tandem as I did for the previous 5 Harry Hole adventures. I did this believing that I could improve my Norwegian and also get a deeper perception because I would not miss nuances connected to the original language. This sixth Harrry outing made me contemplate the moral issues of redemption and revenge, which to me are light years apart in the measure of virtue or righteousness. I don't understand why the author had ambiguously muddled them together as our protagonist had displayed in his final actions. Perhaps it was intentional as the epilogue reminded us that cops are more often not, although we hope them to be, saints, and reliably do the right thing 99% of the time. Neither was Harry Hole an infallible cop. No, they are fallible humans like you and I, who are driven by rage, passion, lust and the rest of the 7 deadly sins. Nevertheless, I was greatly impressed by author Jo Nesbø for picking a venerable giant amongst charity and evangelical organisations as the backdrop to his story on the people busying themselves as God's soldiers dishing out redemption and salvation work to humanity. More than previous offerings in the series, author Nesbø kept us guessing to a very late stage in the book, the motives of the assassins (yes there were more than one assassin, one a mercenary, the other the unknown assassin revealed to us only much later in the story) and the reasons for the assassinations. Going from Croatian-Serbian war to the Salvation army in Oslo, author Nesbø spun his story in a segmented fashion, by time, places and characters in every chapter. A web of interesting characters in Oslo, Zagreb and Bergen before they all converged in the end, which is so typical of Nesbø's style. I read up on the Croatian-Serbian war and the Salvation army as background research before launching into the book. A smart move to have a greater appreciation of the story. The title "Frelseren" (Norwegian for Redeemer) is very appropriate because many of the characters were also important characters in the Salvation army top echelon, directing the daily work of salvation to the most needy of society's unfortunate. Naturally there is a certain advantage if one lives in Oslo (best in Bislett, which I do) could read Harry Hole chronologically beginning with him in Australia and observe the evolution of events at work and in his personal life. After enduring the self-destructive drunkenness, misanthrope, hostility from colleagues and a love sick Hole in previous stories, it was a breath of fresh air for this 6th installment to acquaint ourselves with a older, wiser, leadership conscious Hole. Though he still drinks (but then again, don't most Norwegians love the bottle anyways?), it was under control thanks to AA and his shrink who provides him with intellectual and philosophical solace at critical moments. So one would think that Hole could finally get his act together, since he, at his point in time, has never been more unshackled from relationships, deadly nemesis at work, self tormenting masochism and excessive alcohol since returning from Thailand to fight crime in Oslo. Logically, our Hole must have spent less time incapacitated by his enemy and his own vices that we read in his preceding stories. But alarmingly in the end, Hole chose to close his eyes and walked away in the face of the mercenary Croatian assassin (the frelseren, a misnomer term as I had explained) with the finger on the trigger on his assassination target, the other assassin. This went diametrically opposed to Norwegian values of humanity and hope for redemption for anyone even if he has committed the most heinous crime. The death penalty has been abolished decades ago. Not long ago, a mad fascist Norwegian mass murdered 77 lives. The murderer got a max sentence of 21 years in jail. Norwegian jails are world renowned for the best living conditions because the aim of prisons in Norway is to rehabilitate and for redemption of the soul if the prisoner is penitent. Something only possible if the prisoner is not executed. And so for my opinion, Hole had crossed to the dark side and fell on to the slippery slope of self righteousness and self justice. Hole may call his revenge "redemption" which I had already voiced my strong objections at the beginning. Redemption cannot come from revenge and revenge is never ours to take. Two or more wrongs can never make anything right. Alas, author Jo Nesbø saved his best to the last. The epilogue was a heavy and severe exchange between Hole and his ex boss Møller that left me with the burning question of whether Hole kept the 3 million kroner wrist watch. Knowing the answer will illuminate me on Harry Hole's condition morally.
Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole novels have the ability to grab the reader's attention at the get-go and hold it throughout the novel. This is in part thanks to his ability to draw vivid and memorable characters, not the least of whom is the hero. Harry battles demons. He's reclusive, loyal, addicted, and riddled with shame and guilt. And he has a kind heart and a very dry outlook on the world. He's aggravating but sympathetic.

In the sixth book in the series, Nesbo also creates a sympathetic villain, the Redeemer--an assassin with a tragic back story, a code of honor (of sorts), and a fellow who can overcome difficulties. (I also like his mother!)

This novel is set amid the power structure of The Salvation Army in Norway, which I found very Interesting. Early on, one of their up-and-coming young leaders is killed at a Christmas event, and until the very end of the book the motive remains a mystery. As in all Nesbo's very complicated plots, there are a number of red herrings. And it is so frustrating to determine who dunnit only to have that person wind up dead.

This is a cynical tale that overall fulfilled its promise. The writing is complex and nuanced, the tale is action-packed, and although it was a demanding read, I couldn't put it down.